What makes C-era Different?

10 Fundamentals of C-health

Everyone from our physicians to our administrative team follows these 10 fundamentals to ensure the best possible experience for our patients

1. Timely Access to Specialist Care

At C-health we believe that quick access to our team of specialists reduces patient anxiety, and takes advantage of the best opportunity to educate patients – when they are actively thinking about their medical concerns and are most likely to take action. By providing timely access to our team of experts the likelihood of patients going to emergency departments is reduced, relieving strain on our healthcare system.

2. Multi-Specialty Team

Working as a team allows doctors to tap on each others shoulders to review cases and discuss strategies. A multispecialty team is a requirement for a patient to receive comprehensive care. Each practitioner brings something to the table – by building an infrastructure that encourages collaboration, we enhance the support for physicians and the quality of care for patients. We have Emergency Doctors, General Internal Medicine Specialists, Geriatricians, Cardiologists and Endocrinologists. We also have 5 interpreting pulmonary specialists that read our PFTs and provide clinical guidance. We are partnered with one of the largest Radiology groups in Calgary (EFW) and have frequent interaction with their nuclear radiologists.

3. Multidisciplinary Team

The C-health team includes registered nurses, pharmacists, cardio techs, registered dietitians, and other healthcare professionals who deliver world-class care to our patients. Our multidisciplinary model brings together medical specialists with an allied health team to offer integrated care. We incorporate allied healthcare professionals in the community to improve patient access to meeting their healthcare needs. Each member of the team is responsible for providing excellent quality of care.

4. Patient-Centered Care

Patients are at the heart of everything we do. We focus all processes to ensure that the needs of the patient are met. This includes trying to minimize patient wait time in the clinic, ensuring that information is communicated across providers in order to reduce duplication of information collection, and ensuring that patients have access to a comprehensive website and education resources, to offer programs to support patient care and education.

5. Culturally Competent Care

C-health mirrors the ethnic diversity seen in our communities. We speak 17 different languages and the members of our team appreciate cultural nuances. Our team is always open to learning about cultural norms and optimal ways to deliver care to individuals with respect and sensitivity.

6. Efficient Service Delivery

Our patients’ time is valuable; we strive to respect their time throughout their healthcare journey with C-health. Our model schedules their care in a manner that reduces wait times, improves access, and respects our patients other commitments.

7. Highly Functional Environment

C-health strives to create environments where the doctors have access to the staff and resources they need to make a diagnosis and provide care. Our doctors are focused on delivering care and the management team deals with ensuring they have what they need to deliver high quality and timely care, with timely return of information to the GP.

8. Strategically Located/Distributed Delivery

C-health clinics are located at the intersection of major roads for convenience. There is ample public transit access and lots of parking. This makes it convenient for patients from all across the city to access our services. At our central facility in Calgary we have sophisticated testing modalities that could not be replicated elsewhere – this includes treadmill labs, nuclear cardiology facilities, and PFT machines. However, in the hopes of enhancing care for patients in their local communities, C-health has launched a number of satellite clinics and it works with allied health providers in the community.

9. Diverse Referral Base

Our patients come to us from over 800 Family Practitioners and all Emergency Departments in Calgary. C-health is integrated into the broader Calgary healthcare environment ensuring that patient receive the investigations and care they need. As C-health opens in Edmonton we are excited to welcome new partners to join us in providing world-class comprehensive care to the people of Alberta.

10. Integration into the broader Healthcare Network

C-health creates external collaborations both within and outside Alberta Health Services (AHS) to ensure patients receive the care they need from the best provider to deliver that care. We have strong partnerships with the Atrial Fibrillation Clinic, and the Diabetes Hypertension and Cholesterol Clinic (DHCC). We collaborate with Certified Diabetes Educators in the community to enable our patients to receive care close to home.

Putting it into Practice

Comprehensive Care through our Three Divisions

At C-health our goal is to provide our patients with complete comprehensive care. We provide this through the collaboration of our three divisions:

C-era Cardiometabolic Evaluation and Risk Assessment Clinic,

C-endo Diabetes and Endocrinology Clinic, and

C-O2 Pulmonary Function Clinic

Consistent Care Across Providers

There is an art to medicine and a science. While it is important to nurture the art of medicine, it is important to do so in a manner that builds upon what is known. There are so many ways in which care can be delivered. Science has shown us that certain interventions are more effective than others and have the secondary benefit of reducing complications, reducing death and reducing morbidity. So we focus first and foremost on ensuring that those interventions – the fundamentals of care- are delivered first.

At C-health we practice evidence-based medicine. We follow guidelines. And we do this consistently across all our providers. Regardless of which doctor or allied healthcare professional you see – rest assured that the care you receive will be consistent with current practice standards.

Collaborating to Enhance System Capacity

We recognize that for our patients to receive good care, they need to receive good care not only through us, but through their GP, and through their Primary Care Network (PCN). Hence we at C-health have taken on the challenge of trying to improve healthcare system resources with regards to quality of care and access to care. One example of this is our Professional Diabetes Education Program through C-endo. Many CDEs from PCNs and community pharmacies come to work with and learn from the experienced CDEs at our clinic to improve the care patients can receive close to home. We also collaborate with Calgary Laboratory Services (CLS) to both interpret ECGs but also help enhance the quality of ECGs done through CLS by offering an online training program to their team.

Supporting Knowledge Development and Innovation

At C-health we have an active research program and get involved in trials that change thinking. We are first and foremost a clinical organization. Our involvement in clinical trials keeps us on the cutting edge and offers our patients access to new and innovative therapies. We also have an active quality assurance program, we are constantly evaluating how we deliver care and if we have met the needs of the patients we care for.